PetersenDean, one of the country’s largest roofing companies, announced this week that it’s partnering with Canadian Solar.

“We’ve been around on the roofing side for a long time,” said Jim Petersen, CEO of PetersenDean.

The company is established and well-known. It just made sense once solar started become popular for a roofing company to incorporate it. Rooftop solar panels, with an expected 25-year lifetime, usually need to come along with a new roof that will last just as long.

About 20 years ago, California company PetersenDean started to dabble in rooftop solar installations, Petersen said. But it wasn’t until five to seven years ago that it took that element of its business to the next level.

The company has been installing rooftop solar arrays and that part f its business has been growing in popularity, Petersen said.

“It’s definitely growing,” he said.

The company specializes in installing residential systems under 5 kilowatts, Petersen said.

Until this partnership, the company had not worked much with Canadian. But Petersen said his business, the largest privately held roofing and solar installation company in the country, was interested in partnering with a solar panel supplier.

“They showed a real interest in working with us on that,” Petersen said. “They were really responsive and they see our vision for affordable solar in a box.”

PetersenDean is working with Canadian to get 1.5 to 4.5-kilowatt solar arrays that are prepared almost as kits, so installers can pop them on top of new finished roofs without a lot of labor.

The system and partnership should lead to significant cost-savings for customers and increased competitiveness for PetersenDean in a growing market, Petersen said.